March 10, 2021 Reverend Raymond J. Wertman, age 80, passed into new life on March 2, 2020 while under Hospice care in Palm Harbor, Florida. He will be cremated for burial in his native Buffalo, New York. Raymond Wertman was born on July 21, 1940, the son of Raymond and Mary (Kelly) Wertman. He is a 1958 graduate of Buffalo Diocesan Preparatory Seminary, served in the United States Army from 1959 through 1962 and worked for the Erie County Department of Buildings. He returned to Diocesan Preparatory and then Saint John Vianney Seminary in East Aurora, New York, and completed his Master of Divinity at Saint Bernard Seminary in Rochester. He was ordained a deacon for the Diocese of Ogdensburg in 1970 and served at Sacred Heart Church in Massena and then at Holy Family Church in Watertown. The Most Rev. Stanislaus J. Brzana called him to the Order of Priesthood on October 27, 1972. He continued serving as Parochial Vicar at Holy Family. Father Wertman had great interest in helping those with addictions. He actively expanded his knowledge through contacts and attended several programs to understand the disease and the latest treatment techniques. In 1973, he was instrumental in creating the CREDO Foundation in Watertown. Father Wertman described CREDO as, “a thorough and intense therapeutic community whose program is essentially spiritual and enables drug-dependent persons to leave the drug culture and become alive.” Father Wertman was an administrator at CREDO until 1983, when he served as parochial vicar at Saint Bernard’s Church in Saranac Lake and then as pastor of Saint Martin’s Church, Port Leyden and Saint John’s Church, Lyons Falls. He returned to fulltime work at CREDO in 1989. In 1998, Father Wertman was granted permission to move to Clearwater, Florida due to health concerns and to assist his father. He provided ministry at Saint Cecelia Parish and later at Saint Brendan Parish in Clearwater Beach. From 1998 until his 2016 retirement, he served as a Catholic Chaplain at Morton Plant Hospital. Father Wertman is survived by his sisters Margaret (Danny) Sansone and Patricia Labedz. The family suggests memorial gifts may be given to Credo Foundation or the Priests’ Retirement Fund of the Diocese of Ogdensburg. |
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